Part 28 (1/2)

[294-2] The island of Porto Rico, to which the Admiral ”gave the name of St. John the Baptist, which we now call Sant Juan and which the Indians called Boriquen.” Las Casas, II. 10.

[295-1] See note to Journal, September 29. Frigate-bird is the accepted English name; a species of pelican.

[295-2] Porto Rico.

[295-3] On Friday, the 22d of November, the Admiral first caught sight of the island of Espanola. Las Casas, II. 10.

[295-4] Cape Engano, in the island of Espanola. (Navarrete.)

[295-5] Preserved in the Bay of Samana.

[295-6] See Journal, October 21. and note.[TN-6]

[296-1] Of this voyage of exploration there seems to be no record. Our natural sources, the _Historie_ and Las Casas, are silent. Columbus suspended his writing in his Journal from December 11, 1493, till March 12, 1494. Antonio de Torres sailed for Spain February 2, 1494, when Dr.

Chanca sent off his letter. Probably this exploration was begun about December 20.

[296-2] _Unos gosques grandes_. The French translation has _gros carlins_, ”large pug-dogs.” Bernaldez calls these dogs, _gozcos pequenos_, ”small curs.” ”Cur” is the common meaning for _gozque_ or _gosque_. See Oviedo, lib. XII., cap. V., for a description of these native dogs which soon became extinct.

[296-3] Bernaldez, II. 34, supplies the native name, _Utia_. Oviedo, lib.

XII., cap. I., describes the _hutia_. When he wrote it had become so scarce as to be seen only on rare occasions. It was extinct in Du Tertre's time, a century later. Of the four allied species described by Oviedo, the _hutia_, the _quemi_, the _mohuy_, and the _cori_ (agouti), only the last has survived to the present day.

[296-4] Cabra, or Goat Island, between Puerto de Plata and Cas Rouge Point. (Major.)

[297-1] Apparently the cayman or South American alligator.

[298-1] The river Yaque.

[298-2] It is only seven leagues. (Navarrete.)

[298-3] This chief's name is Guacanagari in Las Casas, _Historia de las Indias_, and in the _Historie_ of Ferdinand Columbus, Goathanari in the Syllacio-Coma letter, Guacanari in Bernaldez and Guaccanarillus in Peter Martyr's _De Rebus Oceanicis_.

[298-4] The admiral anch.o.r.ed at the entrance of the harbor of Navidad, on Wednesday, the 27th of November, towards midnight. Las Casas, II. 11.

[299-1] See Journal of First Voyage, December 25.

[299-2] The Bay of Caracol, four leagues west of Fort Dauphin. (Major.)

[299-3] ”Toward midnight a canoe came full of Indians and reached the s.h.i.+p of the Admiral, and they called for him saying 'Almirante, Almirante.'” Las Casas, II. 11.

[300-1] The hawk bell was a small open bell used in hawking. The discoverers used hawk bells as a small measure as of gold dust.

[302-1] See above, p. 289, note 1.

[302-2] The mark was a weight of eight ounces, two-thirds of a Troy pound. The mark of gold in Spain was equivalent to 50 castellanos, or in bullion value to-day about $150.

[303-1] Melchior Maldonado, apparently the Melchiorius from whom Peter Martyr derived some of his material for his account of the second voyage.

See his _De Rebus Oceanicis_, ed. 1574, p. 26.

[304-1] The familiar hammock.

[304-2] The original reads ”cinco o seiscientos labrados de pedreria,”

which Major translated ”five or six hundred pieces of jewellery,” and Thacher ”five or six hundred cut stones.” The dictionaries recognize _labrado_ as a noun only in the plural _labrados_, ”tilled lands.”